The Ecology Impact Assessment (EcIA) Guidelines have been prepared by a group of ecologists to contribute to raising the standard of practice of ecological assessment in New Zealand, and provide a reference document for students and practitioners. They aim to:

Improve the scientific rigour, objectivity and consistency of EcIA

Assist consultants and officers in local and central government working with AEEs

Improve community confidence in the ability of professionals to undertake impartial assessments

Guide policy around biodiversity management

Contribute to better decision-making on environmental matters.

The 2nd Edition has incorporated feedback and comments received from a range of individuals, professional bodies and interest groups. The layout, style and format of the original are retained so that comparison between the two versions is possible, but substantial changes have been made in some areas to:

emphasise the focus of these Guidelines on RMA section 88/ Schedule 4 (leading to modification of Chapter 5 in particular);

stress ecological description and analysis as a basis for impact assessment and management; and

review the use of matrices as summary tables for ecological description and assessment.

The 2nd Edition emphasises that these Guidelines are not just for use by ecologists working for a project developer or proponent, but are also intended to assist ecologists and planners processing applications in councils to check if all expected information is generally present and treated in an appropriate way.

The Guidelines have been created by Judith Roper-Lindsay (also editor), Stephen Fuller, Scott Hooson, and Mark Sanders.

We look forward to seeing these Guidelines in use and receiving feedback on their application. For more information, or to provide feedback, please contact the New Zealand Chapter at newzealand@eianz.org